Monday, June 10, 2013

But not a normal Monday. It’s E3 week! And of course the big
guys jump off one day earlier from the start of the trade show, which would be
today.
Well except Nintendo. They’re not making a presentation this year.
So instead we have Microsoft, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft. SpikeTV (which is now the
new G4) will be carrying all of these with the exception of Ubisoft. Ubi will
have a livestream of their press conference on their website.

What to expect? Well we know Microsoft and Sony will talk
about their new systems. And…yeah. Though I do hope that they discuss how they
intend to keep the current gen systems in play. The 360 and PS3 are not ‘that’
old in terms of hardware. Well okay maybe the 360, but newer content being
developed can still be placed onto these consoles. Sony is good about keeping
their older system up to date, and I hope they don’t disappoint.

EA and Ubisoft will talk about their games, probably the
myriad of sequels that they’re known for. And um, yeah. There we go.

Can you tell that I’m not as interested in E3 as I have been
in the past years? With the lackluster performance and reception, it’s
difficult to be all into the hype.

Let’s talk about Twitch instead! Twitch.tv is offering it’s
toolkit to all game developers now. It’ll allow everyone from the top of the game ladder to start-ups to easily
integrate the Twitch.tv technology into their games. Because instant replay,
live-streaming, and gaming events are moving in this direction. Twitch.tv is
really trying to stay on top of things as the new consoles prepare to release
under different streaming media. For those interested, check out the Twitch dev site.

The benefit to live streaming and replays for developers is
they can see first-hand what the gamers are experiencing. Everything from
glitches to content overhaul, it’s no longer limited to a letter or a few blog
posts. Now they can see and hear everything. It’s an evolution in the
business/consumer relationship that is needed to push the medium forward.